Daily Dose of Common Sense

We’ve all heard joke versions of “there’s two kinds of people in the world”. Those who get Seinfeld, and those who don’t, etc.

But in the computer business, it’s for real, and it breaks down to those who have already experienced a hard drive failure, and those who will. Because unless you are unfortunate enough to die shortly after first using a computer, there sure as shit isn’t anyone who will escape.

Google is an interesting source of data on this because they run their computer infrastructure not by buying less of the higher-quality, expensive business equipment, but by buying more consumer-grade gear and linking it up smartly so the failures get taken care of automatically (key point – I’ll come back to it in a bit).

Their data shows that, on average, there is roughly a 20% chance of a hard drive failing in the first 3 years. Now, I’m no statistics guru, but I think no matter how you slice and dice those odds, it shows that almost everyone reading these words is at least due–if not long overdue–for a drive failure.

But here’s where we run smack dab into one of the biggest quirks of human nature. That sub-conscious pattern-matching faculty in our brain that we call intuition is, very frequently, lousy at correctly perceiving risk. In the case of data loss, even if we soberly judge the odds, we tend not to appreciate how disastrous the consequences can be.

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Sure, most of us techno-geeks and science nerds get worked up when some movie or TV show blatantly mungs some bit of science or technology (the “sound” from explosions in space, for instance), but do you know what gets our beanie-hat propellers really spinning? When our non-technically minded friends buy some pseudo-science claptrap that they heard from “them”, or read on the Internet.

Nothing fits that mold better than confusion about radiation. Just like with any other word or phrase, it’s always a good start to understand its origins. The word radiation is derived from the word radius, which is the distance from the center of a circle to its edge. So, any phenomenon that spreads out in all directions from where it originates can be said to radiate, and thus can be called radiation.

Sadly, few call sound “acoustic radiation”, or perhaps people might get the commonality. Either that, or they’d think that loud noises will give them cancer. Scratch that idea.

That bad, cancer-causing kind of radiation is “nuclear radiation” (that’s not a real term, just used for emphasis) and is the kind being talked about when something is called radioactive. Its real name is ionizing radiation (because it can strip an atom of electrons, turning it into an ion), and it consists of actual subatomic particles getting thrown around. While it is associated with things like nuclear reactors and bombs, it also just happens naturally. Almost all of the lead in the earth, for instance, once started out as another element, and was transformed into lead by the process of radioactive decay.

Ionizing radiation is bad, and can injure or kill us, because when atoms get ionized, they become very chemically reactive, and all kinds of unintended reactions start to happen in our cells. Cells can die, or worse, accumulate genetic mutations and turn cancerous. When cancer had another cause, however, ionizing radiation can help, as its targeted use can kill just the cancer cells and spare healthy cells.

Then there’s electromagnetic radiation, otherwise known as radio waves or light waves. Electromagnetism is one of the four fundamental forces of the universe, and I won’t attempt to explain it here. But, in the frequencies/energies in which we use it to run our modern world of technological marvels, it is not, I repeat, not, ionizing radiation. The electromagnetic radiation from your radio, Wi-Fi, cell phone or even microwave oven (which is by far the most powerful electromagnetic device most of us encounter) can not injure you the same way ionizing radiation can. Electromagnetic radiation is a wave, just like a ripple of water in a pond. What radiates out in such a ripple is not particles, like an explosion, but the motion of the water.

(Note: A damaged microwave oven CAN injure you, in the same way that it affects the leftovers you heat up: by heating the water molecules inside your body. NEVER use a microwave oven with a broken door, hinge, latch, etc.)

Now here’s the tricky bit. Although nearly all of the confusion between ionizing radiation and the benign electromagnetic kind comes from the common word being used in the sense of “radiate”, there is another connection.

One of the great mysteries of our universe is that in certain situations, matter and electromagnetic radiation behave like both a wave AND a particle. Light is the most famous example, and is how science first came across the phenomenon. Some ionizing radiation, like x-rays and gamma rays, which are high-energy particles like other ionizing radiation, are ALSO very high frequency electromagnetic waves. Ain’t the universe just the coolest?!

So, while that connection is true, it does not mean that your cell phone, which emits electromagnetic “radiation” of very much less energy/frequency, where the difference in quantity becomes a difference in kind, is radioactive in the sense of a nuclear bomb. Ditto with the cell phone towers, radio station antennas, etc.

In short, Stevie Wonder said it best: “When you believe in things you don’t understand, then you suffer; superstition ain’t the way.”

Photos: SC Fiasco, Comic Book

They have always been a good idea, but the tough economic times have made more people than ever look into using rechargeable batteries instead of single-use batteries. Once a mystery, we now all routinely use special-purpose rechargeable batteries in devices like cell phones and digital cameras. Like anything else, however, knowledge is power (pun intended), and even a few simple facts can help a lot.

First, let’s deal with the most important issue: safety. NEVER try to charge a single-use battery. Those warnings are not from some overly cautious lawyer; fire and explosions are real dangers. If you don’t believe me, search for battery fire on YouTube and you’ll see that these innocuous-looking little devices are not to be misused. Electricity and chemistry can each be dangerous on their own, and together they are even more so.

Similarly, never use any kind of rechargeable battery that has been damaged in any way. Likewise, don’t try and jury-rig anything; use things as they are intended and according to the instructions. We technology professionals have a humorous acronym for this: RTFM, which stands for (polite version) Read The Freaking Manual! While our arcane knowledge may seem a mystery to most people, and some of us do indeed have a knack for gadgets, it’s mostly due to the fact that we read the darn directions!

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Technology can be overwhelming, no doubt about it. But if anything, that should make you more eager to do your homework before buying, not less. Otherwise, you will get ripped off.

So, why is it that so many otherwise wary consumers, who would smack down a car dealer trying to sell them “serial number glass etching”, get duped into buying expensive computer and A/V cables they don’t need? Because we fear what we don’t understand.

Cables are one of the highest margin items any electronics or office retailer sells. That 10 foot Ethernet patch cord at the office superstore that costs $18? Well, it works no better than one you can buy on-line for $3 (or less), and both are quite likely to have been made in the same factory in China. Likewise for USB.

Cables for your new flat screen TV can be even more overpriced, because now you are contending with marketing-driven brands. There’s no doubt these high-priced cables are engineered superbly, but there’s also no doubt they are overkill when compared to a no-name cable that meets the same specifications but doesn’t have to cover the cost for throwing expensive parties in Hollywood.

Even the moderately overpriced cables are a rip-off. When I recently received a flat-screen TV as a gift, I only had the cables to hook it up like my old TV, low-def analog. The local electronics shops had 6-foot HDMI (combined digital video & audio) cables for no less than $50, with the cool brands costing over $100.

By resisting the (admittedly HUGE) temptation to buy them on the spot, I was able to get very nice, good spec, gold-plated cables from a well-known web retailer (whose 2-day free-shipping plan I’m on) for $6. That is not a typo. For three cables my decision to wait saved me at least $150.

The key, of course, is being able to wait. Like the convenience store that charges double or triple for a bottle of soda, retailers count on you needing the cable right now.

So, when you are researching your next computer or electronics purchase, don’t forget to look into the cables you’ll need as well. With the money you save, you can order a spare (I didn’t need that 3rd HDMI cable) AND pay for dinner. Nothing goes with a new flat-screen TV like free take-out.

Photo courtesy of Flickr: Mathieu Ramage